Abstract
Present experiment was performed in order to establish the optimum conditions for quantitation of ${\gamma}$-GTP and AGS activities in rat urine and investigate the applicability of the these enzymes in experimental assessment of nephrotoxicity in rats. The results obtained were as follows. 1. The optimal pH of Tris-BCI buffer containing glycylglycine for determination of urinary ${\gamma}$-GTP activity was 7.6(37$^{\circ}C$). 2. The Michaelis constant of urinary ${\gamma}$-GTP ranged from 1.1 to 1.2 mmol/$\ell$. 3. The optimal pH of citrate buffer for determination of urinary AGS activity was 3.6(37$^{\circ}C$). 4. The Michaelis constant of urinary AGS ranged from 0.8 to 0.9mmo1/$\ell$. 5. Coefficient of variance for within-run imprecision of urinary ${\gamma}$-GTP ranged from 3.8 to 6.4％ and that of urinary AGS ranged from 2.5 to 4.1％. 6. There was no significant difference between gel-filtered samples and crude samples in the mean activity of urinary ${\gamma}$-GTP and the intra-individual differences by gel-filtration were either increased or decreased. Mean values of ${\gamma}$ -GTP activities in gel-filtered samples and crude samples were 1570 and 1590 U/$\ell$, repectively. 7. The mean activity of urinary AGS increased significantly after gel-filtration and all the individual urines revealed higher activities after gel-filtration. 8. ${\gamma}$-GTP and AGS activities were linear to 135 and 7U/$\ell$, respectively. 9. Urinary ${\gamma}$-GTP and AGS excretion before administration of potassium dichromate were 22.1 ${\pm}$ 11.2 and 0.5${\pm}$0.2 U/24hrsㆍkg body weight respectively and increased significantly to 102.3${\pm}$44.5 and 5.8${\pm}$3.30/24hrsㆍkg body weight respectively within 24 hours after administration. 10. BUN increased continuously from 24 hours following exposure to potassium dichromate in all 10 rats. From these findings it is concluded that the urinary ${\gamma}$-GTP and AGS excretions are early and sensitive indicators for nephrotoxicity assessment in rat.
